8 Jul

LGBTQ Hate Crime Exists in Brighton & Hove: Let Us Not Be Complacent & Invisible

Posted by Susan Luxford

As anyone who knows me knows, the two things that really get me ranting to anyone that will listen is ‘apathy’ and ‘subtle homo/trans/bi-phobia’ in society. I have spoken in previous posts (‘LGBT Equality – the Last Bastion’, ‘How Gay Are You?’, ‘Why I will never dance to Katy Perry I Kissed A Girl’) about how both are dangerous. My friends will happily tell me I’m being OTT, shrug their shoulders and tell me to lighten up when I get on my soap box about how we in Brighton & Hove are wrong to be so complacent just because there’s greater acceptance of LGBT in our city ‘bubble’ here.

The 17^th May was International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).  Here in Brighton an event was organised and a small group of people showed up to mark this annual day of awareness. If estimated statistics are correct, the 20,000 LGBT residents of Brighton & Hove that day were predominantly invisible.  Apathy was prevailing and our city bubble mentality preventing many from feeling the need to make any noise.

It was therefore quite fitting and coincidental that the speakers at the Brighton IDAHOBIT event all spoke about ‘invisibleness’.

Camel Gupta from Brighton Bothways & Queers of Colour Brighton, spoke about how, “Biphobia is often the thing that happens in these communities that gets ignored. (I’ve started a new group for) people of colour who are LGBT and queer and in three months our membership is in double figures.  It’s important to include the things that get missed”.

Nick Douglas, Founder of F2M Brighton and LGBT Health Involvement Project (HIP) Coordinator, spoke about “What we know about discrimination and hated against LGBT people is that it is often rooted in invisibility. When it comes to standing up against discrimination against LGBT people we as trans men are not invisible and we are not silent. The T in LGBT is not silent”.

Sheila McWattie of the Brighton Women’s Centre spoke about how, “We’ve been very involved in…  just making some noise and getting out there and making ourselves visible. So the message I’d like to give to you is if you’re part of a group or want to start a group, there’s plenty of scope… for you starting something new, joining forces and bringing a new face to what is an old ancient problem that shouldn’t be there anymore”.

and

Jan Baxter from Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS), said about how “As we become more confident in ourselves with equality laws in place… it’s important that as LGBT people we don’t pull the drawbridge up behind us… I don’t want us to ever do the worst thing possible; we face a lot of threats from stupid people. The important thing is that we are our own biggest enemy because complacency is the thing that threatens us not the threat without”.

Last year from April 2010 to March 2011, there were 69 LGBT hate crimes within Brighton & Hove and 3 LGBT hate incidents including that of my friend who was beaten up on Steine Street (by the Aquarium Bar) off St James Street in Brighton’s gay village, in broad daylight for being gay.

Let ‘us’ not be our biggest enemy. 72 LGBT hate crimes and incidents within our ‘Brighton bubble’ in one year is reason enough to for us to not become invisible through complacency, a shrug of our shoulders and a misguided belief that ‘it doesn’t effect me’.

As PC Richard Bridger, from the Neighbourhood Policing Team for the Kemptown area told us at IDAHOBIT,

“Shows of strength like today are such an important thing in the fight against homophobia, transphobia (and) biphobia. It’s something that is a sad fact of life but not something we should tolerate, it’s not something we should put up with, and shows of strength such as today are an ideal demonstration in the outside world showing everyone who we are and what we stand for. We’ve got a dedicated LGBT liaison team. I would urge you please anything; anytime you have any sort of hate crime that you think shouldn’t be happening to you or to anyone else, please let us know. If we don’t know about it we can’t do anything about it. Even if it’s something you think is quite inconsequential to you, (it) may destroy someone else’s life and destroy their confidence. It’s so important that we stand up and fight against people that are going to go out and cause us harm. If you tell us what’s going on, we will do our best to address it”.

I will certainly continue to voice against ‘apathy’ and ‘subtle homo/trans/bi-phobia’ in society that is here in Brighton & Hove and dangerous. I just hope that you will be listening.

To report all homophobic and transphobic incidents, contact Sussex Police on 01273 665657.

LGBT Police Liasion Team, PC Rachel Piggott & PC Rich Bridger

Sussex Police LGBT Liaison Officer is PC Rachel Piggott, supported by PC Rich Bridger. Both Rachel and Rich are part of the Neighbourhood Policing Team for the Kemptown area. The LGBT Team operates from John Street Police Station in Brighton and is led by Sgt Alex Evans.

You can find out more about them and their activities on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brighton-and-Hove-LGBT-Team/194767553890462 and Twitter @PoliceLGBT.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Bisexual, Community, Gay, Health, Lesbian, Trans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.